Cybercrimes pose a threat to all organizations and the customers who are associated with them. As a wave of new data breaches continue to infiltrate networks and access sensitive data, it can be a constant challenge to safeguard your data and keep your business from harm.
That’s where we can help. At Tigunia, we want to help you do a better job of securing your data and protecting your network from unknown threats. With our proven data security best practices and a few changes to your existing IT security processes, you can rest assured your critical data is safe, backed-up, and retrievable at all times.
Data Security Best Practices
Here are the top 5 data security best practices to prepare your infrastructure, prevent cyberattacks, and protect your data:
- Understand Your Existing Data Environment
Understanding what state your current data security environment is in is the first step towards getting more control over your data and protecting against devastating cyberattacks. With better visibility into your data, you’ll be able to identify the weak spots and make the improvements necessary to protect your employees, customers, and your check book.
To do this, you need to create a map of where your data lives, including how it is created, what it contains, what users have access to it, and how it moves from user to user. By auditing who has access to what data, this will show you any glaring holes or vulnerabilities in your security environment and will hopefully light a fire to resolve those issues. Another option is to test your software environment with a vulnerability scanning tool. This will make sure you don’t have unidentified unpatched applications or outdated security protocols in place compromising your existing systems.
- Reduce Risk of Potential Attacks
There are a number of administrative areas that increase your risk of attacks if not properly managed. Too many privileged users or inactive users means a lack of control over your data and gaps in your security environment. Depreciated or unsupported hardware and software is a breeding ground for viruses and compliance issues. Non-expiring or weak passwords are a direct result of 4 out of 5 global data breaches (Read more on World Economic Forum).Take a look at your current administrative processes for user permissions, password protection, and termination policies to see where you can start tightening up control and security.
- Always Have a Plan B
B stands for Backups when it comes to data security best practices. You can do everything in your power to build a forcefield around your data, but at the end of the day, it’s best to always be prepared for disaster. And the best way to be prepared is to invest in technology with the ability to restore and recover critical data. Hopefully you already have something in place, but if not, there are some highly efficient and cost-effective cloud storage solutions available. - Strengthen End-User Training
The best defense is a good offense. From fraudulent emails to general human error, you can start improving your data security today by training your employees on company processes and best practices.Cybercrime is set to cost the global economy $2.9 million every minute in 2020 and some 80% of these attacks are password related. Teach your employees about common cybersecurity incidents, implement stricter policies around passwords and permissions, and protect your network with firewalls.
- Embrace New Technology and Integrated Solutions
As the level of complexity, frequency, and consequences of cyberattacks continue to evolve, so do the new technologies available to help prevent them. Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning tools are playing an increasing role in cybersecurity. AI and machine learning technology, for example, respond and adapt to malicious intrusions, preventing malware from being deployed or attackers from gaining access to your network.Depending on your budget, resource capacity, and data security objectives, there’s an IT solution out there for everyone. Try to avoid the “cyberfatigue” that comes with siloed software and multiple vendors. Try to find a single vendor who can provide all of the software and expertise you need.
READ: Protect Your Organization Against Remote Desktop Protocol Vulnerabilities
Get a Jump Start on Protecting Your Business
As experts in data security, we want to help you build an effective data security program to reduce your risk of downtime and loss from cybercrime. We’ve sifted through all the research out there and added our own hard-earned intel and knowledge to come up with a Cyber Security Checklist for you to follow. It includes everything from keeping backups of your systems to proper firewalls to multifactor authentication.
